Tales of the DC Institute
by Jedi Aayla
Summary: The year is 1963, President Kennedy has just been shot, the US is in a fragile state. The only stability in all of Washington DC is the Institute, but will it be in an uproar as well when a boy named Jack discovers that he can see the Shadow world? Will his presence in the Institute be a blessing or a curse? Rated T for, well, it's the Mortal Instruments, that's why.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: The Mortal Instruments and contents (c) Cassandra Clare**

**Prologue**

**Washington DC, November 22****nd****, 1963**

Emilia walked along the edge of the Reflecting Pool. The area was devoid of people. News of President Kennedy's death had spread like wildfire, having happened only four hours ago, and the country was in mourning. Emilia herself was even a bit down. Shadowhunters didn't normally involve themselves in mundane politics, but the Kennedys had been a breath of fresh air even for them.

She saw a glimpse of grey out of the corner of her eye. Her prey had made itself known. She dashed in its direction, knowing it would never be fast enough to outrun her. In typical vetis demon fashion, it stopped, distracted by something lying in the grass. She was only meters away now. Suddenly she collided with something, a person, and they both crashed to the ground. When she got a better glimpse at them, she saw it was boy, about seventeen as she was.

"I'm sorry," she heard him say as she struggled out from under him. Wait, he was _apologizing? _"Really, I am." His thick-rimmed glasses lay crooked on his nose.

"Wait, you can _see _me?" she said as she got into a kneeling position.

"What? Of course I can see—" he began to say, but Emilia was already back on her feet and again pursuing the demon, which had been frightened when she and the boy had collided. "Hey wait!" he called after her.

Emilia ascended the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in pursuit of her target. The vetis was trapped between her and the statue of Lincoln now. _"Kemeul"_ she called, and her seraph blade roared to life. She swung at the creature, but it managed to leap over her, sending her crashing to the ground. She sprung back up and began to descend the steps of the Memorial, but stopped when she saw what the demon had been headed for. The boy from before.

When the demon reached him, he managed to grab hold of it. Emilia continued to descend the steps, and when she reached the boy, she swung at the demon with the seraph blade, sending it back to whatever dimension it had come from.

"_What the hell were you thinking?"_ Emilia's voice was at a borderline scream. He may have helped her kill the demon, a demon that she was a bit disappointed in herself that could not kill it herself, but he was a _mundane._ A mundane that could _see _through her glamour.

"Well, you looked like you needed help." He answered. "I should be the one asking questions. What was that thing?"

Emilia checked the_ mendelin_ rune on her arm to see if it had faded. It was still there, meaning that this boy could see through her glamour.

"It was a demon," she said. Might as well be blunt. He had already seen more than the normal mundane.

"A de—"

"Shouldn't you be at home mourning or something?" Emilia cut him off.

"I was taking a walk, trying to clear my head."

"So you walked to the Lincoln Memorial to clear your head?"

"Yes." There was silence, and then he bombarded her with another question. "What are those marks on your skin?"

"It's hard to explain, so just go on home and forget this ever happened." She said and turned away. She didn't have to tell anyone back at the Institute about this mundane. If only he'd _leave her alone. _He grabbed her arm and turned her back to him.

"You're not doing a very good job at getting me uninterested."

"Well then, if you must know, your walk is going to be a lot longer than you intended."

He smiled. "Very well. Jack Carlyle." He held out his hand.

Emilia hesitated for a moment, and then shook his hand. "Emilia Fairchild."


	2. Chapter 1

**Note: I have been to Washington DC, but I only passed by the National Cathedral, so my depiction of it may be a little off. **

**The Mortal Instruments (c) Cassandra Clare**

**Chapter One**

**Washington DC, 1963**

Emilia led Jack through the streets of Washington on their way to the Institute. There was a barely a car on the road or a person on the sidewalk. It was while before they arrived at their destination.

"Why are we at the National Cathedral?" Jack asked.

"You men really don't have patience, do you?" Emilia replied, "If you_ must_ know, we are here because where we are going is inside the Cathedral."

"I've been here before, and it just seemed like a normal church, well, a _very large_ normal church, but normal nonetheless."

"So, you can see me but not the Institute? Interesting."

"The what?"

Emilia sighed, "You'll see. Follow." She began to step onto the path leading to the front door of the Cathedral, making Jack hesitate to follow.

"Isn't this trespassing?"

"Will you ever run out of questions?"

"Every question I've asked has been a reasonable one."

"In your mind."

"I just saw a demon, I should get to ask a few questions. And why were you so quick to _tell _me it was a demon but you refuse to tell me about the marks?"

"Because everyone believes in some sort of embodiment of evil but none believe in people like me. No one can even _see _me. Except you, which is odd. If you _really _want the answers to your questions, you're going to have to trespass!"

_Short tempered, aren't we?_ Jack thought, and then stepped onto the path. He'd already seen her kill a demon, who knows what she could do to _him_. Emilia raised her eyebrow before turning around and continuing to the Cathedral.

They arrived at the door and watched as Emilia took a long, thin, red metallic looking object from her belt and began to draw on the door in thick black lines.

"What—"before Jack could inquire as to why she was defacing government property, the door swung open.

"Before you ask, "Emilia said as she held out her hand, the object lying in the palm of her hand. "This is called a stele. And no, I did not permanently damage the door, it will fade in time." She returned the stele to her belt and continued inside, Jack following behind silently.

Emilia pushed the door shut behind them as Jack stared in awe at the Cathedral. He'd seen it once before, but he'd been young and hadn't really paid attention to the architecture. And he'd seen it about ten years ago, and it had changed since then. Construction on the building had been ongoing since 1907, so it was bound to change.

"I thought you said you'd been here before." Emilia said as she draw out what looked like a rock, save for the fact it was glowing.

"I had," Jack replied, "back in 1953."

"I didn't come to Washington until 1957."

"You weren't born here?"

"No, I was born—"she paused, "I was born in Europe."

"Where in Europe? England? Ireland?"

"Ireland? You assume because I have red hair that I'm from Ireland?"

"What? No—"

"You're not succeeding in making yourself look any better." Emilia said as she strode over to one of the walls. She stood in front of a specific section of wall and put her hand to it. "I am Emilia Fairchild, and I request entrance in the name of the Clave and the Angel Raziel.

She stepped back as the wall seemingly dissolved. There was now a hallway where it had been. Emilia looked back to Jack, and wasn't surprised to see that he was in shock. "Everything shocks you doesn't it?" Emilia asked before stepping into the hallway, "Are you coming?"

When Jack came into the hallway behind her, the wall reappeared, closing them in. Emilia led them through the hall, her glowing rock lighting the way. "I suppose this hallway's lack of light is to add to the mystique?" Jack asked. Emilia just turned back to him for a moment to glare and then continued on.

"This part of the Cathedral is glamoured from prying eyes. A glamour is a type of magic to keep things hidden. Normally it will make something look different from its normal appearance, but in this case, this is completely hidden." Emilia explained as they walked.

The hallway eventually opened into a foyer with a curved staircase on one side. There were french doors near the stairs, but they were closed, preventing Jack from seeing what lay beyond them. It was a lot brighter in here, prompting Emilia to put the rock away.

"Eugene! Maria!" Emilia called. Not long after, Jack could hear footsteps. And not long after that a brunette girl, probably about the same as Emilia, appeared at the top of the stairscase. She wore all black, as Emilia did. In contrast though, Emilia's clothes were far more modest. This girl wore tight pants that looked as if they were leather, along with a low cut, short sleeved, top. These people were far from the average clothes women wore.

"Maria is out, and Eugene is…indisposed." She said in joking manor.

Emilia laughed lightly and then said, "Really Addison, I need to speak with them about him," she gestured to Jack, causing the other girl, Addison, to raise her eyebrows, which were thick, and continue down the steps.

"They're in the library, speaking with Brother Isaiah. Probably best not to interrupt them until he leaves. Wouldn't want to frighten the mundane." Addison's tone was now a sarcastic one that implied that she was superior to Jack.

"Mundane? Is that an insult?" he asked.

"Only if you want it to be." Addison said as she reached the bottom of the steps. Jack felt small all the sudden. Both Emilia and Addison were almost as tall as he was, and he was of average height. Jack then noticed that Addison's arms were decorated with black marks, just as Emilia's throat and hands were. Jack guessed that Emilia probably had marks up her arms as well, but her sleeves covered it.

He could again hear footsteps, and soon another girl followed by a young boy, probably about ten, were coming down the stairs.

"Honestly Elizabeth, must you stick your nose in everything?" Addison didn't even have to look at who was coming down the stairs to know who it was.

"I have just as much right as you to know. You may be closer to being eighteen, but at this moment we're both considered children, so don't act like you get to know more than me." Elizabeth complained as she came to stand beside Addison, the younger boy following.

Elizabeth seemed to notice Jack's presence at that moment, as she smiled and held out her hand. "I'm Elizabeth Redwine, but uh, you can call me Eliza." Jack shook her hand hesitantly.

"_Eliza_?" Addison asked in a tone that implied that this was the first time Elizabeth had asked to be called Eliza. Elizabeth just glared at her for a moment and then turned back to Jack, obviously very interested in him.

"This is Richard," Elizabeth introduced the younger boy who'd been following her as she twisted a lock of her blonde hair around her finger. She was obviously younger than Addison and Emilia by at least two years and shorter by a few inches.

Richard only glared at Jack, and he had to admit the kid's stare was a bit disconcerting.

"Can I ask exactly why instead of asking why I'm here, you're introducing yourselves?" Jack asked.

"It's obvious why you're here. You can see us, which means you're going to be spending quite a bit of time here." Addison answered. "Richard is Eugene and Maria's kid, they run this place. They'll explain everything once they're done with their—political affairs."

"And when will that be?"

"Who knows." Was all Addison said before heading back to the steps. Richard followed her. Jack had a feeling that the only person he'd met so far that actually liked him was Elizabeth, and she only liked him because she was attracted to him, which was a bit odd because no one had ever been attracted to him.

Elizabeth smiled at him once again before going back upstairs as well, leaving he and Emilia alone in the foyer.

"Well, that was interesting." Jack said.

"Interesting? That's all you could come up with?" Emilia replied.

"Who's the one asking questions now?"

"I see your point." Emilia laughed lightly.

"Addison and Richard seemed to dislike me,"

"Addison dislikes everyone. This place is for Shadowhunters, that's what we are, who need a place to stay. Shadowhunters under eighteen who have lost their parents stay here as well."

"So, now you choose to tell me what you are?"

"DC isn't exactly safe for us at this moment, so I didn't want to tell you all our secrets out in the open."

"What do you mean DC isn't safe?"

At that moment the French doors opened, and out stepped a tall cloaked figure, its face head beneath its hood. Next to it stood a man who looked about thirty. "Thank you for your visit, Brother Isaiah, we appreciate it."

Jack didn't hear the figure reply. Both of them seemed to notice Jack at that moment. The expression on the man's face told Jack that he wasn't welcome here. The figure strode over to him, and Jack saw its face. Its skin was white and scarred, its lips sewn shut, the area where its eyes should be were sunken holes. The figure paused in front of him, and then continued on past him. Soon it was gone.

"Emilia, why did you bring a mundane in here?" the man asked, obviously upset.

"He could see past my glamour," Emilia quickly explained.

The man looked at him, his expression softened. "Oh, well then. I'm Eugene Bayhallow, head of the Institute. I'm sure you have plenty of questions. Follow me." Eugene turned back to the double doors and gestured for him to follow.

Finally he was getting some answers.


End file.
